UTICA, N.Y.Sophomore guard Joe Mackey withstood a pair of time outs and the roar of a small but energetic crowd to calmly hit the front end of a one-and-one with 18 seconds left to play and then did his part on defense to keep Utica from tying the game with a pair of three-point field goal attempts with under 10 seconds remaining as Union won its first game of the season, 65-62, over Utica College.
Down by eight with 2:06 left to play, the Pioneers, who suffered their first loss in three games, rallied from a 64-56 deficit to close to within two, 64-62, on two free throws by Justin Chichon. But Mackey, who finished with nine points and had given the Dutchmen that eight-point cushion by hitting both his charity shots, provided the Dutchmen with a three-point lead that forced the hosts to shoot from outside the arc in order to have a chance to send the game into overtime.
Utica missed its first three-point attempt with eight seconds left before Ricky Adames came up with the offensive board. His three-point shot also bounced off the rim and into the hands of teammate Tim Troy, who was unable to get off a third attempt.
The win improved the Dutchmen's record to 1-1.
The Dutchmen, who trailed only twice in the game, jumped out to a 7-2 lead on Darcy Bonner's layup with 14:56 showing in the first half. The Pioneers forged their first of five first-half ties, 7-7, as Cichon hit scored from beyond the three-point line with 14:08 remaining. Utica took its first lead of the game, 14-12 at 11:16, on a layup by Cichon before Jack Lighthall's layup with 9:52 left provided the Pioneers with a 16-14 advantage.
Junior guard John Cagianello, who finished with a team-high 16 points, started a 15-2 Union run by tying the score at 16-16 with a layup with 9:04 showing. A three-pointer by junior guard Chris Murphy, a jumper by Bonner, a three-point field goal by senior forward Devon Bruce, a jumper by freshman forward Kyle Grimm, and a three-point bucket by senior guard T.J. Ramey gave Union a 29-18 advantage with 4:09 left in the half. Union went into the locker room leading by six, 31-25.
The Dutchmen, who maintained a lead of between seven and nine points throughout most of the second half, led 58-49 with 7:35 remaining on Mackey's jumper. However, Utica stormed back to cut its deficit to two, 58-56 at 3:56, before a layup by junior guard Brian Scordato with 3:32 left started a 6-0 Union run that provided the Garnet with their eight-point lead with 2:06 showing.
Scordato was the only other Dutchman to score in double digits as he connected for 10 points and was second to Bruce (who had nine boards) in the rebounding department with six. While the Dutchmen were outscored from the field, 26-23, they were 10 of 20 from three-point range (as compared to Utica's 5 of 19 effort) and hit nine of their 13 free throw attempts (the Pioneers were five of nine). Utica controlled the boards, 37-31, and held a commanding 16-8 margin on the offensive side.
